China’s New Internet Law Raises Privacy Fears for 1 Billion Users
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Originally published by Newsweek on July 16, 2025
China has officially launched internet identification requirements that rights groups have warned will further curtail online anonymity and increase the risks for freedom of speech in what is already one of the world’s strictest online censorship and surveillance systems.
The new mechanism developed by the Ministry of Public Security and the Cyberspace Administration of China came into effect on Tuesday.
Why It Matters
Human rights groups say the internet identification is a new attack on freedom of speech in China that will put anyone who dares question authority at even greater risk.
Chinese authorities say the system will enhance security and convenience for the public online and boost the digital economy.
The internet in China is already tightly controlled and censored. The “Great Firewall” blocks the country’s more than 1 billion users from accessing international sites and services without a government-approved virtual private network app, or VPN.
What To Know
The system is intended to “protect citizens’ identity information, and support the healthy and orderly development of the digital economy,” according to rules published by Chinese authorities.
It requires internet users to register through the National Online Identity Authentication App with their national ID cards and facial recognition. Users will then be issued with an “internet code,” made up of letters and digits, as well as an “internet certificate,” allowing them access to various services and applications without having to key in login credentials and repeatedly pass personal details to service providers.
For now, registration is voluntary but authorities have been encouraging public and private services and general users to adopt it. Many major platforms including the popular WeChat messaging and payments system are using it. Registration could increasingly become necessary for anyone navigating the internet in China.
Internet users in China already have to use their real names to get access to digital services under a 2017 Cybersecurity Law and rights groups fear the new system will mean an intensification of government efforts to control online activity, stamp out dissent and smother free speech.
“Internet users across China already endure heavy censorship and control by the government,” Shane Yi, a researcher with the group Chinese Human Rights Defenders said in a statement last month.
“The new internet ID regulations escalate Beijing’s attack on free speech, putting human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, and anyone who questions authority at even greater risk.”
Xiao Qiang, a research scientist studying internet freedom at the University of California, Berkeley said the system can “directly erase voices it doesn’t like from the internet.”
“So it’s more than just a surveillance tool—it is an infrastructure of digital totalitarianism,” he said.
What People Are Saying
Michael Caster, head of Global China Programme at the international free-speech organization Article 19, said: “Anonymity provides for the privacy and security fundamental to exercising the freedom of opinion and expression. In further chipping away at potential online anonymity through the creation of a national internet ID, in an ecosystem where the Cybersecurity Law already mandates real-name identity verification, China is clearly seeking to intensify its efforts at silencing critical voices.”
An unidentified Public Security Ministry official told China’s official Xinhua news agency: “This service not only ensures secure and convenient identity verification for citizens but also supports the growth of China’s digital economy.”
What Happens Next
The new regulation could become compulsory or the requirement could become so prevalent that internet users feel forced to sign up to navigate online.